Although Joan Brudieu was born in Limoges, he spent most of
his life as cantor and then priest at the 12th-century Cathedral
of Santa Maria at La Seu d'Urgell in Catalonia. There his name
is pronounced approximately Joo-ann Brooth-yeh-oo
(accent on the italicised part), a rendition that would likely
have been close to that favoured by Occitan-speaking Limousin.

In this, their fourth recording (the third was reviewed here),
Catalan ensemble Exaudi Nos's aim is interesting and laudable:
not just the bare performance of Brudieu's surviving Requiem
Mass, but to set it in an authentic liturgical context. To this
end they have intercalated three of Brudieu's madrigals: the
three-part no.13 to act as the Introit, the two-part no.15 as
the Ite Missa Est, and a short one between the Offertory and
the Sanctus to serve as the Communion. In addition, the Tractus
section is entirely in plainchant, and there is further chant
in the Absolution, all of this historically justifiable.

The secular but metaphorical madrigals are sung in Catalan,
the Mass itself in Latin, the sounds of which come easily to
Catalan speakers, who for British listeners have the advantage
of pronouncing consonants in much the same way British ensembles
do. Brudieu does not always leave the singer much time for breathing,
and sometimes individual voices come close to running out of
puff, but in general this is a decent performance by the six
singers and six instrumentalists of Exaudi Nos, under their
director Joan Grimalt. The singing is of a high standard, the
odd intonational quaver by a solo voice notwithstanding.

Brudieu's Mass is considered one of the finest of its time and
place. It is not on the same artistic plane as comparable works
by close contemporaries Byrd, Lassus, Palestrina or, in Spain,
Francisco Guerrero, but few are; in any case, there is no question
that it was worth recording. An intimate coterie of period instruments
is employed, most prominently the cornet and the continuo theorbo
or guitar, and sometimes a discreet organ.

The most negative thing that can and must be said about the
product is the absurdly short playing time: 45 minutes for a
full-price disc is not a good way to make friends. The timing
is all the more regrettable for the missed opportunities it
represents: Brudieu is hardly over-represented on recordings,
and several of his madrigals could easily have been included
- on the evidence of the three here they would have been well
worth hearing. As the above link to the label's last Exaudi
Nos release shows, Columna Música have previous history
in this regard; but however worthy the music, however glossy
the booklet, full-price CDs lasting 45 minutes or under are
not only a bad deal for the customer, but they put the product
at a competitive disadvantage in a market packed with well-recorded
discs containing almost twice as much music, often at half the
price.

Sound quality is very good, although it must be said that the
Villa Romana Institute - actually a secondary school - self-evidently
has large rooms, because the reverberation is ample, and particularly
marked in the plainchant sections. Indeed the photos suggest
that the recording took place in the gymnasium! Presumably this
was a conscious decision, the idea being to recreate a church-like
atmosphere. In that case, job well done: this is an appealing,
atmospheric recording that takes the listener back to the sixteenth
century.

The 50-side Catalan-Spanish-English booklet is attractively
produced and provides excellent detail, with a large number
of footnotes adding historical remarks, and the full sung texts
with translations. The layout does suggest a somewhat stream-of-consciousness
approach - for example, some of the photos are repeated in the
different language sections, whereas others are not. The translations
into English are satisfyingly rendered by a native speaker.

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